libraryhttp://www.maclife.com/taxonomy/term/3379/all
enAsk: How to Uninstall Mac Appshttp://www.maclife.com/article/howtos/ask_how_uninstall_mac_apps
<!--paging_filter--><p>Got an Apple, Mac, or iOS tech question? We've got the answer. In this edition of Ask, we'll let you know the best way to completely get rid of apps you no longer want on your Mac.</p><h3>Question</h3><p>I’m amazed when people say that dragging apps into the Trash uninstalls them, because in my experience that’s not always true. I found that when uninstalling Google Chrome by dragging the app to the Trash, all the browsing history, bookmarks, and so on remained on my Mac. Nowadays I always use an app called AppCleaner. What would you say is the best way to uninstall an app?</p><h3>Answer</h3><p>You're right; simply throwing an application in the trash won't get rid of everything associated with it. Those additional files are your personal settings and preferences, and they are excluded from the application package file so each user account can have their own settings, and to make it easier to flush if something gets corrupted. These sorts of files are put in your ~/Library/Application Support and ~/Library/Caches folders. In OS X, we'd suggest simply deleting apps by dragging them to the Trash and then, if you want, deleting personal files associated with them from your own Library folders as an extra step.</p><p><img src="/files/u332541/2015/02/ask_appcleaner.png" width="620" height="404" /><br /><strong><span style="font-size: x-small;">AppCleaner from freemacsoft.net does an excellent job of uninstalling apps but, in our opinion, it isn’t really necessary.</span></strong></p><p>Unlike with Windows computers, a dedicated uninstall app probably isn't necessary. (The reason uninstallers are so essential for our PC-using brethren is that library files can be dumped in the Windows folder and only a cryptic reference in the registry tells you where to find them.) There are, of course, a few badly behaved Mac applications out there, but these are definitely outliers. If you have an app you just can't get rid of, it might be worth using something like AppCleaner, but in general it's unnecessary. Admittedly, AppCleaner is donationware, so you don’t have to pay for it, but the office copy sits quite unused so far...</p><p>Got an Apple tech question? Email <a href="mailto:ask@maclife.com" target="_blank">ask@maclife.com</a>.</p>http://www.maclife.com/article/howtos/ask_how_uninstall_mac_apps#commentsAppsAsklibraryTipstrashtricksuninstallMacHow-TosFri, 13 Feb 2015 19:06:25 +0000MacLife Staff21296 at http://www.maclife.comAsk: Find the Library in Maverickshttp://www.maclife.com/article/howtos/ask_find_library_mavericks
<!--paging_filter--><p>Got an Apple, Mac, or iOS tech question? We have the answer. In this week's installment of Ask, we explain how to unhide the Library folder in OS X Mavericks.</p><p><strong>Question: I read your great "70 Mavericks Tips and Tricks" article, but I'm still having trouble getting my Library folder to show up. Can you explain it in more detail? I'm running OS X 10.9.1.</strong></p><p>Answer: In OS X Mavericks, Apple included the ability for power users to enable an option in the Finder to enable the "Library" folder to show inside of the current user's Home directory.&nbsp;</p><p>To get the Library back, first open a Finder window. Click the Home folder icon (the one with your username) in the sidebar. If the Home folder isn't enabled in the Finder, then you can press Command + , (comma) and check the option to display the Home folder in the Sidebar tab.&nbsp;</p><p><img src="/files/u332541/2014/05/libraryfolder2_620.png" width="620" height="358" /><br /><strong>The Library folder option is only visible when inside your user's Home directory.</strong></p><p>Once inside the Home folder directory, press Command + J (or go to View &gt; Show View Options), then, in the View Options dialog that appears, check the option for "Show Library Folder." After checking this option, the Library folder will appear in your Home directory. This option is only available in OS X Mavericks (10.9.x) and not previous OS X releases.</p><p><img src="/files/u332541/2014/05/libraryfolder3_620.png" /><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><strong>Once you’ve enabled your Library folder, you’ll have access to things such as fonts, desktop pictures, and more.</strong></span></p>http://www.maclife.com/article/howtos/ask_find_library_mavericks#commentsAskfolderhiddenlibraryMavericksOS X 10.9.1OS X MavericksMacHow-TosFri, 30 May 2014 18:25:11 +0000Cory Bohon20047 at http://www.maclife.comAmazon Launches Kindle MatchBook Service, Cloud Player for Machttp://www.maclife.com/article/news/amazon_launches_kindle_matchbook_service_cloud_player_mac
<!--paging_filter--><p><img src="/files/u220903/kindle_matchbook_teaser_620px.png" alt="Kindle MatchBook" width="620" height="300" /></p><p>After teasing the feature nearly two months ago, Amazon has finally launched its latest effort to keep readers coming back to its Kindle service by allowing customers to purchase e-book versions of past purchases on the cheap.<br /><br /><a href="http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&amp;p=irol-newsArticle&amp;ID=1869627&amp;highlight=" target="_blank">Amazon announced Tuesday</a> the debut of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/digital/ep-landing-page?ie=UTF8&amp;ref_=tsm_1_tw_s_kin_mvfll9" target="_blank">Kindle MatchBook</a>, a new service that enables past, present or future physical book purchases to qualify for a matching Kindle edition, with prices ranging from free to $2.99.<br /><br />"Imagine you bought a book from Amazon 18 years ago... and then 18 years later we made it possible for you to add that book to your Kindle library for $2.99, $1.99, $0.99, or free," founder and CEO Jeff Bezos asks on the Amazon homepage. "What would you call such a thing?"<br /><br />If you said "magic," you're wrong -- but Kindle MatchBook is close to the same thing, assuming you own any one of more than 70,000 books currently enrolled in the service. The best way to describe Kindle MatchBook is a kind of iTunes Match for e-books, which delivers on the same promise Amazon established with compact disc and vinyl sales with its AutoRip MP3 service earlier this year.<br /><br />Previous physical book purchases can be matched against a customer's history <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/digital/ep-landing-page?ie=UTF8&amp;ref_=tsm_1_tw_s_kin_mvfll9" target="_blank">from the Kindle MatchBook page</a>, although in our case the results came back empty-handed: "We were not able to find any Kindle MatchBook eligible titles based on your past print book purchases." (To be fair, we don't buy many print books to begin with.)</p><p>In a separate press release, <a href="http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&amp;p=irol-newsArticle&amp;ID=1869633&amp;highlight=" target="_blank">Amazon also announced the release of its Cloud Player Desktop app for Mac</a>, which allows purchases made on the company's MP3 Store to be played from the desktop, complete with a virtual storefront to shop for additional albums or tracks from the e-tailer.<br /><br /><em>Follow this article’s author, <a href="http://twitter.com/JRBTempe" target="_blank">J.R. Bookwalter on Twitter</a></em></p><p>&nbsp;</p>http://www.maclife.com/article/news/amazon_launches_kindle_matchbook_service_cloud_player_mac#commentsNewsAmazonAmazon AutoRipBooksdigital upgradese-bookskindleKindle MatchBooklibraryphysical mediaprint booksiPadiPhoneiPodMacTue, 29 Oct 2013 13:34:36 +0000J.R. Bookwalter18457 at http://www.maclife.comHow to Batch-Resize Images with Automatorhttp://www.maclife.com/article/howtos/how_batchresize_images_automator
<!--paging_filter--><p><img src="/files/u325188/2012/09/automatorapplet-icon.png" width="200" height="142" style="text-align: center;" class="graphic-right" /></p><h3>Let Automator handle the heavy lifting</h3><p>If you find yourself performing the same actions on your Mac again and again, open up Automator and see if you can program a workflow, which you can save as an application and run from your Dock or with any application launcher. Alternatively, you can set up a Folder Action, which means that Automator watches a specified folder, and anything you put in that folder gets processed instantly.<br /><br />In our example, we’ll set up an Automator workflow to resize images for our blog, save them as JPEGs, and rename the files. But poke around Automator’s actions library and you’ll probably find ways to speed up your own most-performed tasks, too.</p><h3>1. Choose a Type</h3><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u325188/2012/09/automator1-type_0.png" width="620" height="409" /></p><p>When you launch Automator, the first pane asks what you’re creating. Applications work just like any app on your Mac. Services show up in the Services menu in your apps and when you right-click things in the Finder. Print Plugins show up in the Print dialog, accepting PDFs as input. Folder Actions perform the workflow on any files dropped into a certain folder. Calendar Alarms execute the workflow at a certain date and time. And Image Capture Plugins appear in Image Capture, accepting images as input. When in doubt, choose Workflow--these run in Automator and can be re-saved as another type later by going to File &gt; Convert To or pressing Command-Option-Shift-C.</p><h3>2. Peruse the Library</h3><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u325188/2012/09/automator2-actions.png" width="620" height="435" /></p><p>Click the Actions tab toward the top-left, and expand the Library list just below it. For our example (prepping images for a blog), we’ll click Photos, which displays a list of photo-related actions in the adjacent pane. Browse through them with the arrow keys, and you’ll see a description of each action in the pane at the bottom of the window.</p><h3>3. Drag Actions to the Workflow</h3><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u325188/2012/09/automator3-copy.png" width="620" height="315" /></p><p>Since we want to resize images, we’ll drag Scale Images into the Automator workflow. Automator helpfully asks if we’d like to insert the Copy Finder Items action before it, so the images we resize are just copies, not our originals. Good idea. We click Add, and both actions are added to our workflow.</p><h3>4. Specify Details</h3><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u325188/2012/09/automator4-change.png" width="620" height="373" /></p><p>Actions often need a little more direction from you. In the Copy Finder Items action, we can select where the copies should be saved (default is Desktop). In the Scale Images action, we can specify the pixel length of the longest side. Next we’ll drag in Change Type of Images, and specify JPEG.</p><h3>5. Rename the Output</h3><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u325188/2012/09/automator5-rename.png" width="620" height="390" /></p><p>We also like to rename our resized images with the date and pixel size, so we’ll select the Files &amp; Folders category under the Library list, and drag in the Rename Finder Items action. This action has a drop-down that specifies what the action does. We’ll pick Add Text, and add -600 to the end of the filename. Then drag in Rename Finder Items again and choose Add Date or Time to slap the Date/Time Created before the filename.</p> <h3>6. Test it Out</h3><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u325188/2012/09/automator6-test.png" width="620" height="186" /></p><p>Since this is just an Automator workflow so far, to test it we need to add Ask for Finder Items as the very first action, to give it some files to work with. Find it in the Files &amp; Folder section (or use the search box) and drag it to the very top of the workflow. Then at the top-right of the window, click Run to test the workflow. You’ll be asked to select some images in the Finder, and the workflow will run and process those images.</p><h3>7. Save It</h3><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u325188/2012/09/automator7-save.png" width="620" height="400" /></p><p>If everything works as you expected, you can then delete the Ask for Finder Items action from the top and press Command-S to save the workflow. You can change it to an application here (if you want to just drop files onto the app icon), or choose File &gt; Convert To to create a Folder Action (just drop the files into the folder), or an Image Capture Plugin.</p>http://www.maclife.com/article/howtos/how_batchresize_images_automator#commentsautomatorHow tosimage captureiPodiPod and iPhonelibraryMaciPadiPhoneiPodMacHow-TosThu, 27 Sep 2012 18:14:30 +0000Susie Ochs15122 at http://www.maclife.comScratch DJ Academy Mix Reviewhttp://www.maclife.com/article/reviews/scratch_dj_academy_mix_review
<!--paging_filter--><p>There’s something to be said for software that does one thing well. Scratch DJ Academy MIX addresses a very specific need: it automatically analyzes songs--especially dance-friendly electronic tunes--for key and beats per minute, and then offers a limited selection of tools for joining matching songs together in DJ-style mixes.<br />&nbsp;<br />And it does this quite well. Import songs into the MIX library, and after just a moment, the app brings up the tune’s BPM and key. Drag a song into the mix list, and the app highlights other songs that match either or both of those criteria. Pick a match-friendly tune, and the app intelligently blends the end of the first song into the beginning of the second, buffing over minor differences in tempo with a surprisingly successful beat-matching system. For further control, you can choose when in the first tune the second tune begins, adjust the length of the crossfade, choose the crossfade type, and even nudge the second track in 1/32 increments in case the two don’t line up exactly right.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u325188/scratch_screen.png" width="620" height="413" /></p><p><strong>Mix as m</strong><strong>any tunes as you'd like. Each crossfade can be customized in length, position, and type, allowing for many different effects.</strong></p><p><br />As I say, it does all this well...when used as expected. The trouble arises when importing music that isn’t as consistent in key or beat as dance tracks--say, any jazz or rock number. In these cases, both the key and the BPM can be wildly inaccurate, making for some laughably inappropriate matches. You can adjust the BPM and key on a song-by-song basis, but this significant extra step is only useful if you have prior knowledge of the problematic song. That’s a shame, because one of the great joys of listening to a skilled DJ is hearing a mix of two songs that you’d never think would go together. <br /><br />But that can be excused as not being the main focus of the software. Less excusable are the app’s more fundamental deficiencies, chief among these being the incomprehensible choice to not give the user any option of where in the latter song to begin the mix. Also problematic is the fact that, while the app can export your finished mix as an MP3, it does so only at a paltry 128Kbps bit rate. (Fortunately, WAV is also an export option.) <br /><br /><strong>The bottom line.</strong> For would-be DJs with a large library of easily analyzed electronic tracks, MIX is a powerful tool for developing new mixes. But it’s less friendly to non-electronic libraries, and hence a lot less useful as more than a curiosity.</p><fieldset class="fieldgroup group-the-bottom-line"><legend>Review Synopsis</legend><div class="field field-type-text field-field-product">
<div class="field-label"><p><strong>Product:</strong>&nbsp;<p></div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<!--paging_filter--><p><a href="http://www.sdamix.com" target="_blank">Scratch DJ Academy Mix</a></p> </div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="field field-type-text field-field-company">
<div class="field-label"><p><strong>Company:</strong>&nbsp;<p></div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
Stanton </div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="field field-type-text field-field-contact">
<div class="field-label"><p><strong>Contact:</strong>&nbsp;<p></div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<!--paging_filter--><p><a href="http://www.sdamix.com" target="_blank">www.sdamix.com</a></p> </div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="field field-type-text field-field-price">
<div class="field-label"><p><strong>Price:</strong>&nbsp;<p></div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
$49.99 </div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="field field-type-text field-field-requirements">
<div class="field-label"><p><strong>Requirements:</strong>&nbsp;<p></div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<!--paging_filter--><p>Intel processor, Mac OS 10.5.7 or later, 1GB RAM (2GB recommended)</p> </div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="field field-type-text field-field-positives">
<div class="field-label"><p><strong>Positives:</strong>&nbsp;<p></div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<!--paging_filter--><p>Surprisingly accurate key and tempo analysis--for electronic tracks. Impressive auto-crossfade, especially for tunes of slightly different tempos.</p> </div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="field field-type-text field-field-negatives">
<div class="field-label"><p><strong>Negatives:</strong>&nbsp;<p></div>
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<!--paging_filter--><p>No control over where mix starts in second song. Very inaccurate results for non-electronic tunes. Ugly interface.</p> </div>
</div>
</div>
</fieldset>
http://www.maclife.com/article/reviews/scratch_dj_academy_mix_review#commentsReviewsDJiPadiphoneitouchlibraryMixmixiMusicscratchiPadiPhoneiPodMacFri, 17 Aug 2012 14:02:58 +0000Joe Rybicki14792 at http://www.maclife.comHow to Use iPhoto Library Managerhttp://www.maclife.com/article/howtos/how_use_iphoto_library_manager
<!--paging_filter--><h3>Turn your iPhoto into a highly flexible series of image databases</h3><h3 style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u325188/2012/08/mac249.tut_photolib_screen.png" width="620" height="490" /></h3><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Keen on photography? iPhoto Library Manager could be a real boon.</strong></p><p>Apple’s iLife is an amazing suite of applications designed to bring out the creative in you. You can make a movie with iMovie, perform a song with GarageBand and keep track of your photos with iPhoto. But while making music and home videos is time consuming, practically everyone who owns a Mac takes photos. <br /><br />This is why iPhoto is the most popular iLife program of the three and is always one of the Top Paid apps from the Mac App Store… this means there’s a lot of you out there who are struggling with software, which could be a lot more versatile. <br /><br />The main problem with iPhoto is that all your images are stored in a single location, the iPhoto Library file, in your account’s Pictures folder. The obvious problem lies when sorting out your personal photos from your work photos, for instance. Yes, you can create different events and albums to organize yourself, but you can’t check all your photos without seeing a mish-mash of completely unrelated images.<br /><br />Wouldn’t it be better to have the ability to create multiple libraries, so you can get organized? To be fair, iPhoto does let you do this, but the process is a little convoluted and it’s incredibly difficult to move photos from one library to the other, especially if you want to preserve all the metadata you’ve added to them.<br /><br />This is why Fat Cat Software came up with a clever utility called iPhoto Library Manager. For only $20, you can manage multiple iPhoto libraries, transfer photos between them, even choose which library to import shots to, all from a convenient and clear interface. Check out this tutorial and if you like what you see, you can try the app out for free by visiting <a href="http://www.fatcatsoftware.com" target="_blank">www.fatcatsoftware.com</a> (note that some features aren’t available until you purchase the app).&nbsp;</p><h3>What You’ll Need:</h3><p>&gt;&gt; iPhoto'11 version 9.2.3 or later, an extensive photo library</p><h3>1. Your current library</h3><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u325188/2012/08/mac249.tut_photolib.step1_.jpg" width="620" height="388" /></p><p style="text-align: left;">Launch iPhoto Library Manager -- your current library is on the left with all your Albums in the middle. To see your Events, click on the Albums In pop-up menu and select Events. The right-hand column displays general information about the currently selected library.</p><h3>2. Make a new library</h3><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u325188/2012/08/mac249.tut_photolib.step2_.jpg" width="620" height="388" /></p><p>Go to File &gt; New Library, click the New Library button in the toolbar (top left) or use the Command + N keyboard shortcut. Do so and a new library appears in the column to the left. By default, it’s stored in the Pictures folder, but you can save it anywhere, even on another drive.</p><h3>3. Transferring photos</h3><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u325188/2012/08/mac249.tut_photolib.step3_.jpg" width="620" height="388" /></p><p style="text-align: left;">Click your original library’s button in the first column, choose a folder or an event, and drag it onto the new library. The app launches iPhoto. Locate the files in question, copy them, quit iPhoto, relaunch it with the new library selected, and paste those photos into it.</p><h3>4. Moving libraries</h3><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u325188/2012/08/mac249.tut_photolib.step4_.jpg" width="620" height="388" /></p><p style="text-align: left;">iPhoto doesn’t like you moving its Library file, but iPhoto Library Manager has no problem. Quit iPhoto (the button is to the right of the toolbar), then locate one of your libraries in the Finder and move it to another folder. The app will now point to its new location.</p><h3>5. Make a shortcut</h3><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u325188/2012/08/mac249.tut_photolib.step5_.jpg" width="620" height="388" /></p><p style="text-align: left;">When working with multiple libraries, you may not want to launch iPhoto Library Manager each time prior to choosing the right library to use. To speed this up, drag a library from the first column onto the Desktop. Just double-click this shortcut to launch that library.</p><h3>6. Importing photos</h3><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u325188/2012/08/mac249.tut_photolib.step6_.jpg" width="620" height="388" /></p><p style="text-align: left;">When you connect your camera, iPhoto will open up the last selected library. To change this behavior, connect your camera and launch the Image Capture app. Click on the pop-up menu, bottom left of the interface, choose Other and select iPhoto Library Manager.</p><h3>7. Transferring photos</h3><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u325188/2012/08/mac249.tut_photolib.step7_.jpg" width="620" height="388" /></p><p style="text-align: left;">If the photos you wish to transfer aren’t in a particular album or event, you can move them manually. Launch iPhoto, select the image or images you’d like to transfer, and drag them to the iPhoto Library Manager interface, over the library’s name you’d like to copy them to.</p><h3>8. Merging libraries</h3><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u325188/2012/08/mac249.tut_photolib.step8_.jpg" width="620" height="388" /></p><p style="text-align: left;">To merge your libraries together, go to File &gt; Merge Libraries. Select all the libraries you’d like to merge from the left column, then click on the one you’d like to copy the photos to from the right column. Select the Don’t import duplicates box and click Continue.</p>http://www.maclife.com/article/howtos/how_use_iphoto_library_manager#commentsAppiPhotolibraryLibrary Managermacbook proPhotosiPadiPhoneiPodMacHow-TosTue, 07 Aug 2012 18:01:55 +0000Steve Paris14731 at http://www.maclife.comHow to Sync your iPhoto Library with Dropbox and Google Drivehttp://www.maclife.com/article/howtos/how_sync_your_iphoto_library_dropbox_and_google_drive
<!--paging_filter--><p><img src="/files/u12635/iphoto_dropbox_teaser.png" width="150" height="125" class="graphic-right" />With iOS 5, Apple launched the ubiquitous Photo Stream and made photo sharing and syncing a cinch between Macs and iOS devices. However, the 1,000 photo limit may not be enough for your photography needs. Fortunately, iPhoto has included to option to share with external cloud services like Dropbox or Google Drive. Read on to find out how.&nbsp;</p><h4>Difficulty: Easy</h4><h4>What You’ll Need:</h4><p>&gt;&gt; <a href="http://dropbox.com">Dropbox</a> or <a href="http://drive.google.com">Google Drive </a><br />&gt;&gt; Existing iPhoto library<br /><br /></p><h3>1. Copy Your Library</h3><p>To synchronize your iPhoto library between your Mac with either service, you'll need to locate the file for the existing iPhoto library in your Pictures folder. Copy the iPhoto Library file and then paste it inside the Dropbox or Google Drive folder in your user's folder.&nbsp; Make sure that you don’t actually move the file--we’re copying it so that we’ll have an original backup in case something goes wrong.</p><p><br /><br /><a class="thickbox" href="/files/u12635/iphoto_dropbox_1.png"><img src="/files/u12635/iphoto_dropbox_1.png" width="620" height="368" class="thickbox" /></a></p><p>Afterward, you'll have to wait as all of your files copy over. This could take awhile, so go, make yourself a cup of tea. You could probably run a few errands, too.</p><p><br />Next, you’ll want to paste in the copied iPhoto library file to your Dropbox or Google Drive folder located inside of your user’s folder in the Finder. You can do this by pressing Command + V while inside the Dropbox or Google Drive folder. For larger iPhoto libraries, this copy process may take a few minutes.<br /><br /></p><h3>2. Open the Library in iPhoto</h3><p>After the syncing ordeal, open the file in iPhoto by holding down the Option key as you launch the app. Choose the other library that's not the default to make it so. Now, the iPhoto Library stored inside your Dropbox or Google Drive folders will be the default, and any changes you make will automatically sync into the cloud with each save. <br /><br /><br /></p><p><img src="/files/u12635/iphoto_dropbox_2.png" width="586" height="424" /></p><p>If you decide you want to drop either Dropbox or Google Drive, you can always switch back to your old iPhoto library by reversing the process. <br /><em><br />Cory Bohon is a freelance technology writer, indie Mac and iOS developer, and amateur photographer. Follow this article's author, <a href="http://twitter.com/coryb/" target="_blank">Cory Bohon on Twitter</a>.</em></p>http://www.maclife.com/article/howtos/how_sync_your_iphoto_library_dropbox_and_google_drive#commentsDropboxGoogle DriveimagesiPhotolibraryOnlinePhotospicturesStorageSyncsynchronizingMacHow-TosMon, 14 May 2012 19:10:58 +0000Cory Bohon14041 at http://www.maclife.comHow to Move Your Media to an External Diskhttp://www.maclife.com/article/howtos/how_move_your_media_external_disk
<!--paging_filter--><p>If you're running room out of your hard drive and would rather not bother with the task of upgrading it, you can try relocating your iTunes and iPhoto libraries to an external drive. iPhoto’s pretty open to the idea of moving home. Simply close it and copy your iPhoto library (located in your Pictures folder) to an external volume. Now re-open iPhoto while holding down the Option key and select the library you just moved from its new location. Check all is working okay, then you’re free to delete the original iPhoto library in your Pictures folder.<br /><br />The process for iTunes is a little fiddly, so we’re providing step-by-step instructions:</p><h3>1.</h3><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u307916/2011/11/drivesweeper/step3-1.jpg" /></p><p>Kick things off by opening iTunes Preferences and click on the Advanced tab. Now check the box next to “Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library” and click OK.</p><h3>2.</h3><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u307916/2011/11/drivesweeper/step3-2.jpg" width="620" height="433" /></p><p>From the File menu in iTunes, select Library and choose Organize Library. In the window that appears, check both boxes (or whichever is available) to consolidate your iTunes library.</p><h3>3.</h3><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u307916/2011/11/drivesweeper/step3-3.jpg" width="432" height="400" /></p><p>Quit iTunes and locate your iTunes Library folder, which should be in your Music folder unless you’ve moved it. Select it and hit Command-I to see how large it is in comparison to your external drive. Connect the external drive you intend to use and ensure that there’s enough free space available on it to store your iTunes library with room to spare. Drag your iTunes folder from the Music folder to your external drive and wait for it to copy.</p><h3>4.</h3><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/files/u307916/2011/11/drivesweeper/step3-4.jpg" width="620" height="366" /></p><p>Open iTunes again and check that it knows where your new library is. If it doesn’t, open up iTunes Preferences and head to the Advanced tab to tell it where. When all is working correctly, delete your iTunes library from your internal hard drive.</p>http://www.maclife.com/article/howtos/how_move_your_media_external_disk#commentshddhddsiPhotoiTunesiTunes libraryLibrarieslibrarymediaMacHow-TosMon, 24 Oct 2011 12:25:43 +0000Ben Harvell12619 at http://www.maclife.comHow to Share Your iPhoto Library From Networked Storagehttp://www.maclife.com/article/howtos/how_share_your_iphoto_library_networked_storage
<!--paging_filter--><p><img src="/files/u220903/iphoto_albums_620px.jpg" alt="iPhoto '11 albums" width="620" height="300" /></p><p>As more homes become networked for modern Wi-Fi technology, having centralized storage that can be shared by the entire household makes good sense. Thankfully, network-attached storage (NAS) is plentiful and cheap -- and with a few caveats, can even be used to get your iPhoto collection off your computer and onto your network.</p><p>We recently showed you how to move an iTunes library off your computer’s hard drive and onto networked storage -- and thankfully, intrepid iPhoto users can do the same thing. However, there are some important things to pay attention to before you make the effort, and it’s not for everyone.</p><p><img src="/files/u220903/apple-airport_extreme-mar09-home.jpg" alt="AirPort Extreme at home" width="620" height="366" /></p><h3>Wireless Isn’t All It’s Cracked Up to Be</h3><p>Most of us now have a wireless router in our home or apartment, which is particularly handy for sharing our internet connection with, say, an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad (not to mention our Wi-Fi enabled laptops and desktops). Unfortunately, even the fastest 802.11n connection is not really recommended for users who want to put their iPhoto library onto their network -- mostly because iPhoto has a lot of moving parts and a potential for lost data.</p><p>The major difference between Apple’s multifaceted media player and iPhoto is that iTunes is essentially made up of a group of small text files that tell the media player where your music files are located. While iPhoto also does the same, it’s accessing your original photos in a very different way, particularly while you’re editing them -- there’s a lot of data moving back and forth, and even the fastest Mac with local storage can frequently feel sluggish when using iPhoto.</p><p>Storing an iPhoto library on your NAS further reduces that speed since the data has to travel through your network, and with a wireless connection, you also add the possibility of data packets being lost should something interfere with the connection -- it could be as simple as another member of the household running the microwave, for instance. While a song playing via iTunes may simply stutter briefly or quit playing altogether during such a drop, data loss such as this could be devastating for iPhoto, resulting in a corrupted library and the potential loss of precious photos.</p><p>For that reason, we strongly recommend using these instructions on a wired network, preferably one that’s using the fastest Ethernet 1000 Base connection. You’ll get something much closer to local storage read and write speeds, while ensuring safer transmission of all those ones and zeroes between your computer and the NAS -- and you can still use the wireless functionality of your router to serve internet to your mobile devices.</p><p>Finally, a good backup strategy is also recommended -- you’ll want to use Time Machine or another option to keep a daily backup of your NAS iPhoto library, just the same as if it were stored locally on your computer.</p><p><img src="/files/u220903/airportextreme.jpg" alt="AirPort Extreme Base Station" width="620" height="383" /></p><h3>The Easy Way: AirPort Extreme AirDisk</h3><p>The easiest way to relocate an existing iPhoto library to NAS is to plug a hard drive into your AirPort Extreme Base Station (or use the dedicated storage from the hard drive-equipped Time Capsule) -- Apple calls this an “AirDisk.” The single USB 2.0 port on the AirPort Extreme can easily be expanded by using most any USB hub (even unpowered ones), allowing you to plug in multiple hard drives or printers at once.</p><p>Before you go jacking a hard drive into your AirPort, first make sure it’s properly formatted -- iPhoto libraries are required to be stored on disks formatted “Mac OS Extended (Journaled)” or the application won’t recognize the library. (An iPhoto library will appear as a regular folder if the disk is formatted incorrectly, rather than as a bundle, which is required for iPhoto.) Note that you can even use a Pogoplug-enabled storage device to serve your iPhoto Library, since it allows the use of journaled disks and can be accessed from any computer with the free software included with the device.</p><p><img src="/files/u220903/format_disk_for_nas_use.jpg" alt="Format disk for NAS use" width="620" height="538" /></p><h3>Preparing Your AirDisk</h3><p>To format your disk, plug it into an available USB 2.0 port on your computer. You’ll want to confirm that there’s no important data on the drive that you’ll want to save prior to doing so, since formatting will remove all contents from the disk. After that quick spot check, go to the Applications &gt; Utilities folder and open Disk Utility by clicking on it twice.</p><p>Now you’ll see a list of your available drives at the left -- they’ll actually appear twice, first as the drive mechanism itself (for example, “1TB WD” for a Western Digital 1TB drive) and second by the name you see when mounted on your computer. Select the drive you wish to format by clicking on the first of those names, then click the Erase tab on the right side of the screen.</p><p>Recent versions of Mac OS X will offer to format disks as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) in the “Format” pulldown by default, which is exactly what we want. Type a name for your drive (you might want to call it “AirDisk” to differentiate it from local disks) and click the Erase button below -- but before you do, take one last look at your drives at the left side of the window, just to make sure you have selected the correct one. (Extremely cautious users can eject important drives from the Desktop prior to launching Disk Utility, just to avoid any potential confusion.)</p><p>In a moment, you’ll see Disk Utility format your drive and mount it on the Desktop. Quit Disk Utility, then eject the drive by holding down the Control key and selecting Eject from the contextual menu (it’s the second option from the top) to unmount it. Now you can physically unplug it, walk it over to your AirPort Extreme and plug it into the sole USB port on the back of your router.</p><p><img src="/files/u220903/airport_utility_setup.jpg" alt="AirPort Utility setup" width="620" height="460" /></p><h3>Set Up Your AirDisk with AirPort Utility</h3><p>If you haven’t used the AirDisk feature of your AirPort Extreme before, go to Applications &gt; Utilities &gt; AirPort Utility, select your router and click Manual Setup. Now browse to the Disks tab, select File Sharing and make sure “Enable file sharing” and “Share disks over WAN” are both checked. (The first allows the AirPort Extreme to share connected disks; the second allows it to be seen on your wired network.) You may also need to visit Finder &gt; Preferences and make sure “Connected servers” is checked under “Show these items on the desktop” in order for your AirDisk to show up in your Finder windows as well as on the Desktop.</p><p>Next, open a Finder window and look for your AirPort Extreme Base Station listed under the “Shared” drives. Click on the icon and at the right side you’ll see a list of any hard drives attached to the box -- double click on the one you just attached and you’ll see the disk mount on your Desktop. Note that you’ll need to enter a password if you’ve enabled that option in AirPort Utility.</p><p><img src="/files/u220903/relocate_your_iphoto_library.jpg" alt="Relocate your iPhoto Library" width="620" height="178" /></p><h3>Relocate Your iPhoto Library</h3><p>With your AirDisk mounted, you can now copy any file you desire to the NAS drive, the same as if it were mounted locally -- and that includes your iPhoto Library. Drag and drop your iPhoto Library file from the Photos folder to your AirDisk and when it’s done copying, you can simply double-click the library file on your AirDisk and like magic, iPhoto will now open from your AirPort Extreme and work exactly the same way it did before.</p><p>Once you’ve confirmed that iPhoto is playing nice with your AirDisk, you can move the local iPhoto Library in your Photos folder to the trash and delete it -- assuming, of course, you’ve got a good backup first.</p><p><img src="/files/u220903/iphoto_library_img_on_desktop.jpg" alt="iPhoto Library IMG on Desktop" width="620" height="211" /></p><h3>The Harder Way: Non-Apple NAS Devices</h3><p>If you don’t have an AirPort Extreme Base Station/Time Capsule or already own another brand of NAS, all hope is not lost -- however, you’ll have to go through a few extra steps to make it work.</p><p>Few NAS boxes on the market today can simply be reformatted for the Mac -- most work like the D-Link DNS-323, a compact, affordable two-bay box which lets you add your own internal hard drives on the cheap. However, the DNS-323 and others format drives using Linux or other methods incompatible with iPhoto Library files. (Remember, simply copying your iPhoto Library to a disk not formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) will make it unreadable by the iPhoto app.)</p><p>The workaround is to first create a disk image on your NAS, then copy your iPhoto Library into it (or create a new one, see next section). Whenever you want to access your iPhoto Library, you’ll double-click the IMG file on the NAS to mount it on your Desktop, then double-click the iPhoto Library file stored inside to actually launch iPhoto and open it.</p><p>While it all sounds easy enough, there are a few downsides to this method. The biggest is having a couple of extra steps in the first place -- if you’re accustomed to simply opening iPhoto and diving into your photos, you may be frustrated by having to mount a disk image before you can open the application. You’ll need to make sure the IMG file is mounted before starting iPhoto, or you’ll get an error that the application can’t find your library.</p><p>Second, you’ll have to decide in advance how large you want your disk image to be, based on the current size of your iPhoto Library -- and some guesswork as to how much space it might need in the future. Fortunately, you have the option of using Disk Utility to resize your disk image as time goes on, at least up to 300GB or so, although we generally advise keeping your iPhoto Library files to a more manageable size. Particularly when working from an NAS, it’s better to have a few smaller libraries than a single enormous one, and you’ll find that accessing them this way will be faster as well.</p><p><img src="/files/u220903/creating_nas_disk_image.jpg" alt="Creating NAS disk image" width="616" height="573" /></p><h3>Preparing and Using a Disk Image on Your NAS</h3><p>To create a disk image, go to Applications &gt; Utilities and again open Disk Utility. At the top of the window, click on New Image and you’ll be presented with several options -- you can leave these at the default settings, but confirm that Format is set to Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Click the Size drop-down, select the Custom option and then change the size pulldown to GB and type a number representing the size of your image (we made ours 5GB for the purpose of this tutorial). Remember, the bigger the disk image, the longer it will take to save it to your NAS (not to mention accessing from your computer), and you can always make it larger in the future, should you so desire.</p><p>Now give your disk image a name (we called ours “iPhoto Library NAS,” but it can be anything you want) and also enter a name in the Save As field above (this can be the same name -- it will be the name of the actual IMG file itself). You can now save the disk image directly to your NAS in the parent directory, where it will be easy to find. If you plan to use multiple libraries, you might consider making an “iPhoto” folder first and saving your new images there to keep them in one place.</p><p>Depending on the size of your disk image, it may take a few minutes to create. When it’s done, you’ll see it automatically mount on your Desktop and then you’re ready to copy your iPhoto Library into it (or create one from scratch). To copy your existing iPhoto Library, open your Photos folder as outlined in the previous section and drag and drop the iPhoto Library file over to your new mounted disk image.</p><p>When it’s finished, double-click on the file inside the disk image -- it will launch iPhoto and you’ll be on your way. Once you’re certain that everything is working to your satisfaction, you can move the local iPhoto Library to the trash and remove it -- preferably after you’ve made a good backup, of course.</p><p><img src="/files/u220903/create_new_iphoto_library.jpg" alt="Create new iPhoto Library" width="552" height="390" /></p><h3>Starting a New iPhoto Library</h3><p>Instead of relocating your existing iPhoto Library, you may decide to just start with a new one on your NAS instead. To do this, prepare your NAS as outline above and then hold down the Option key as you open the iPhoto application -- instead of opening your current iPhoto Library, iPhoto will ask which photo library you want to use (assuming you have more than one), or give you the option to create a new one.</p><p>Click on “Create New…” and then browse to your mounted NAS. Give the new library a name -- maybe “iPhoto Library NAS” just to differentiate it from your existing library -- and click Save. (This also works for your non-Apple NAS, but you’ll have to mount the disk image and browse to that location prior to clicking Save.)</p><p>To change your NAS iPhoto Library to the default, double-click on the new library file on your networked storage -- that library will now be loaded by default every time you open iPhoto, assuming the NAS is mounted prior to launch (or you change to another library using the same method later on).</p><p><img src="/files/u220903/disk_image_mounted_on_desktop.jpg" alt="Disk image mounted on Desktop" width="200" height="238" /></p><h3>Sharing Is a Relative Term</h3><p>Although storing your iPhoto Library on a networked storage device isn’t quite as straightforward as storing it locally and comes with a few potential risks, it can be a blessing for multi-user homes who want to keep all of their photos in one central location.</p><p>That said, you can’t exactly just plop your iPhoto Library onto an NAS device and access it from every computer in the house -- in fact, only one computer at a time can access the library, particularly if you’re using the disk image method on a NAS that’s not Mac formatted (disk images can only be mounted on one system at a time). Likewise, Apple never intended iPhoto libraries to be used by multiple computers at once (aside from iTunes Home Sharing, which doesn't allow you can’t edit images), and attempting to do so could even cause corruption on your library.</p><p><img src="/files/u220903/iphoto_library_manager.png" alt="iPhoto Library Manager" width="620" height="319" /></p><h3>iPhoto Library Manager to the Rescue</h3><p>Speaking of iPhoto Library corruption, with the additional risk of this possibility by storing your library on an NAS, it’s a good idea to have a quality software tool ready to tackle the problem should it someday occur. A great third-party tool for managing multiple iPhoto libraries is <a href="http://www.fatcatsoftware.com/iplm/" target="_blank">Fat Cat Software’s iPhoto Library Manager</a> (currently at version 3.6.3, which provides full compatibility with iPhoto 9, the version included with iLife ’11).</p><p>For $19.95, you can gain easy access to multiple libraries as well as copy photos from one library to another complete with full metadata, merge libraries and even rebuild or extract photos from corrupted libraries. Since the best strategy for NAS-based iPhoto use is to have more than one library to keep the file sizes down, iPhoto Library Manager is an indispensable tool for your networked arsenal.</p><p><img src="/files/u220903/iphoto_library_manager_copying.png" alt="iPhoto Library Manager copying" width="620" height="416" /></p><h3>A Few Final Caveats</h3><p>If you plan to migrate your iPhoto Library to your NAS, we’d suggest creating a new library and importing any new photos you take to there, while also importing them to your original local library as well. Once you’ve had some time getting used to importing, editing and organizing your photos with iPhoto from the NAS and are confident it’s the right solution, you can migrate the two libraries into one or simply copy the local library to the network storage and continue from there uninterrupted.</p><p>One last thing to consider for frequent travelers or road warriors: While using an NAS at home will be super convenient for your family, once you leave your home network, you may find it less desirable. Even if you’re a MobileMe user with Back to My Mac turned on (allowing you to access AirPort Extreme disks remotely), you’ll be restrained by the speed of your internet connection, which will likely be too slow to do anything significant with iPhoto.</p><p>However, since you can attach a portable USB 2.0 hard drive to an AirPort Extreme Base Station, you could easily unmount your AirDisk, disconnect it and pop the drive into your suitcase for use on the road as local storage -- then simply reconnect it to your home network when you return. The downside is your family members won’t have access to the library while you’re away, but hopefully they’ll be enjoying a vacation with you anyway.</p><p>All that said, we hope that Apple will make this process easier in a future version of iPhoto -- until then, it’s good to know that you can tap into the convenience of network-attached storage in the meantime.</p><p><em>Follow this article’s author, <a href="http://www.twitter.com/JRBTempe" target="_blank">J.R. Bookwalter on Twitter</a></em></p><p>&nbsp;</p>http://www.maclife.com/article/howtos/how_share_your_iphoto_library_networked_storage#commentsAirPort ExtremeiPhotoiphoto '11libraryNASNAS Storagenetwork driveMacHow-TosThu, 17 Feb 2011 18:30:45 +0000J.R. Bookwalter9953 at http://www.maclife.comJuggling Multiple iTunes Librarieshttp://www.maclife.com/article/howtos/juggling_multiple_itunes_libraries
<!--paging_filter--><p><strong>The tip on organizing PDFs in iTunes was great (“<a href="/article/feature/50_things_every_mac_geek_should_know" target="_blank">50 Things Every Mac Geek Should Know</a>,”). Now how about letting us know how to get back to our original iTunes catalogs, and better yet, how to switch between the music and the PDF files?</strong><br /><br />No problem, and we’re glad you asked--we accidentally left that part out. To switch between your libraries, just hold down the Option key while you’re launching iTunes. You’ll see a dialog with buttons for Create Library or Choose Library. Click the Choose Library button, which will launch a file-browser dialog where you can navigate to your normal iTunes library, which is most likely in your ~/Music/iTunes folder and is probably called iTunes Library. Select that file and <br />click Open.</p><p><a href="/files/u129772/itunes-choose_full.jpg" class="thickbox"><img height="116" src="/files/u129772/itunes-choose_380.jpg" width="380" /></a><br /><strong>Hold down Option when launching iTunes to pick the library.</strong></p><p>If your PDF iTunes library was saved in the same folder and you’re having trouble telling the two apart, we recommend opening both and then changing the location of the non-music iTunes library--try the Documents folder instead. You can still use it by holding down Option when launching iTunes, clicking Choose Library, and navigating to the PDF library’s new location. If you don’t hold down Option while launching iTunes, the app opens with the last library you looked at, whether that’s your music or your PDFs.<br /><br /><strong>Bonus:</strong> You can juggle multiple iPhoto libraries by using the same technique: Hold Option when launching iPhoto for a dialog that lets you create a new library or choose an existing one. iPhoto will default to the last library viewed, unless you hold Option while launching it and choose a different library.</p><p>&nbsp;</p>http://www.maclife.com/article/howtos/juggling_multiple_itunes_libraries#commentshow-toiTuneslibraryHow-TosTue, 21 Jul 2009 20:46:46 +0000Scott Rose4544 at http://www.maclife.com